Valorant

The Intel Core i5-11400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT delivers extremely high frame rates in Valorant, with the data showing a clear pattern of CPU limitation at lower resolutions. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra settings is just 77.6 FPS (453.7 vs 376.1), while at 4K, that same spread narrows to 73.4 FPS (399.1 vs 325.7). This relatively small performance gap across settings at each resolution indicates that the processor is the primary bottleneck at 1080p, while the GPU begins to take on more responsibility as resolution increases. The frame rate drop from 1080p Low to 4K Low is 54.6 FPS, a 12% reduction, whereas the drop from 1080p Ultra to 4K Ultra is 50.4 FPS, an 11.8% reduction. These modest declines suggest that neither component is being pushed to its absolute limit, even at 4K, given the lightweight nature of the game engine.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals that Valorant scales unusually well across resolutions, with the i5-11400F and RX 6800 XT combination maintaining playable frame rates far beyond what most titles achieve. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 453.7 FPS, which drops to 433.4 FPS at 1440p and 399.1 FPS at 4K. This represents a total loss of 54.6 FPS from 1080p to 4K, or roughly 12% of the initial performance. The scaling pattern holds across all settings: High settings show 380.1 FPS at 1080p, 358.5 FPS at 1440p, and 332.2 FPS at 4K, a 47.9 FPS total drop. Medium settings follow suit with 383.7 FPS at 1080p, 368.2 FPS at 1440p, and 341.2 FPS at 4K, losing 42.5 FPS. Ultra settings produce 376.1 FPS at 1080p, 354.6 FPS at 1440p, and 325.7 FPS at 4K, a 50.4 FPS decline.

The consistency of these drops — all falling between 42 and 55 FPS regardless of settings — suggests that the limiting factor shifts gradually from the CPU to the GPU as resolution climbs. At 1080p, the CPU’s six cores and 12 threads are likely delivering frames faster than the GPU can render them, but the gap is not severe. At 4K, the GPU’s 512.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 20.74 TFLOPS of FP32 performance become more relevant, yet the frame rates remain exceptionally high, indicating that even at maximum resolution, the system operates well above the refresh rates of most monitors.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo holds the 875th position out of 1,650 tested combinations in Valorant, placing it in the upper half of all configurations. This ranking might seem modest given the high frame rates, but it reflects the fact that Valorant is highly CPU-sensitive at lower resolutions, and many competing combos feature newer processors with higher single-thread performance. The CPU’s benchmark data shows a PassMark single-thread score of 2,981, which places it in the 75th percentile against all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U with an average score of 17,189 (0% delta), the Intel Core i7-1260P at 17,212 (-0.2%), the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U at 17,215 (-0.2%), and the Intel Core i5-1240U at 17,141 (0.2%). These tight margins indicate that the i5-11400F sits in a crowded performance band where small architectural differences dictate ranking positions.

The GPU’s average benchmark score of 49,982 places it in the 87th percentile of all GPUs, with nearest rivals including the Intel Arc A550M at 49,737 (0.5% delta), NVIDIA RTX A1000 at 50,826 (-1.7%), NVIDIA CMP 50HX at 49,071 (1.9%), and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER at 48,704 (2.6%). The combination’s rank of 875 out of 1,650 suggests that while the individual components are strong, the pairing does not extract maximum potential from either part in this specific title, likely due to the game’s engine favoring high single-core clocks over raw multi-threaded throughput.

GPU Role

The RX 6800 XT brings substantial resources to Valorant, including 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 512.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1,825 MHz, a game clock of 2,015 MHz, and a boost clock of 2,250 MHz, with memory running at 2,000 MHz (16 Gbps effective). These specifications translate to a pixel rate of 288.0 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 648.0 GTexel/s, which are more than sufficient for a competitive FPS title. The GPU’s 4,608 shading units, 288 texture mapping units, and 128 raster operations pipelines handle the game’s relatively simple geometry with ease.

However, the benchmark results indicate that the GPU is not the primary constraint in most scenarios. The narrow FPS spread between Low and Ultra settings at each resolution — 77.6 FPS at 1080p, 78.8 FPS at 1440p, and 73.4 FPS at 4K — demonstrates that the GPU has ample headroom. Even at 4K Ultra, the system produces 325.7 FPS, which is far above what most displays can show. The GPU’s 87th percentile ranking and average benchmark score of 49,982 confirm its high-end status, but in Valorant, the processor’s single-thread performance (3DMark single-thread score of 868) becomes the limiting factor. The data suggests that players would see negligible gains from upgrading the GPU alone, as the CPU’s 12 MB of L3 cache and 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth cap frame delivery.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo achieves its highest frame rates across all settings. Low settings produce 453.7 FPS, Medium settings yield 383.7 FPS, High settings deliver 380.1 FPS, and Ultra settings manage 376.1 FPS. The difference between Low and Medium is 70 FPS, while the gap between Medium and High is just 3.6 FPS, and High to Ultra is 4 FPS. This clustering of Medium, High, and Ultra results suggests that the game’s visual options have minimal impact on performance once the lowest preset is exceeded.

At 2560x1440, the pattern repeats with slightly lower numbers: Low delivers 433.4 FPS, Medium produces 368.2 FPS, High achieves 358.5 FPS, and Ultra reaches 354.6 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 78.8 FPS, nearly identical to the 1080p spread. At 3840x2160, Low produces 399.1 FPS, Medium yields 341.2 FPS, High delivers 332.2 FPS, and Ultra manages 325.7 FPS. The 4K results show a 73.4 FPS spread, indicating that even at maximum resolution, the GPU can handle the workload without significant frame drops. Across all resolutions, the Low preset consistently outperforms the next tier by a wide margin — roughly 70 FPS at 1080p, 65.2 FPS at 1440p, and 57.9 FPS at 4K — while the differences between Medium, High, and Ultra remain under 8 FPS.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data strongly favors the Low preset for competitive play, as it delivers the highest frame rates at every resolution: 453.7 FPS at 1080p, 433.4 FPS at 1440p, and 399.1 FPS at 4K. The jump from Low to Medium costs between 57.9 and 70 FPS depending on resolution, which is a substantial loss for a competitive FPS where higher frame rates translate to lower input latency. However, the Medium preset at 1080p still produces 383.7 FPS, which exceeds the refresh rate of most high-end gaming monitors, making it a viable option for players who want slightly better visuals without sacrificing responsiveness.

For players prioritizing visual fidelity over raw frame rates, the Ultra preset at 1080p offers 376.1 FPS, which is only 77.6 FPS lower than Low. This gap narrows at higher resolutions, with Ultra at 4K producing 325.7 FPS versus 399.1 FPS on Low, a 73.4 FPS difference. Given that even the lowest-performing measured configuration (4K Ultra at 325.7 FPS) far exceeds the 240 Hz refresh rate common on competitive monitors, players can safely enable Ultra settings without dropping below playable thresholds. The data indicates that the Medium preset strikes the best balance, as it provides a meaningful visual upgrade over Low (341.2 FPS at 4K) while maintaining frame rates above 340 FPS at all tested resolutions. Ultimately, the choice hinges on whether the player’s display can benefit from the extra frames provided by Low settings, as the hardware combination is powerful enough to run Valorant at maximum settings with no perceptible performance issue.